Yes, SJND earned the Boy's Team Performance award - no other NorCal boys team has pulled it off. If De La Salle or SRV had won their state race, they would have gotten that award without much discussion.

Also, I thought that the comment about a Transfer of the Year award a while back was a snide comment, not a serious suggestion for another award!

State Championship no doubt top performance. Carlmont's CCS win and course record at Toro is #2.

Transfer of the year? What is this MLB and we're looking at "trades" now. The kid transferred for sports, did his time and ran really well at section and state. While Lawson gets runner of the year this is in the running for performance of the year.

Looks like SJND had the most impressive team resume. Definitely deserve the recognition for best team performance. SRV and DLS had very good seasons, and SRV's NCS win is a solid 2nd best team performance. Don't think any boys team wins this award going away. Agree with the Transfer of the Year Award discussion...really?

Since these awards are pretty much slanted toward NCS despite being much larger and not as good here are my pics for CCS:

Runner of the Year:Yohaness Estifanos - runs at Toro Park and Crystal Springs are the best performances in Nor Cal this year hands down.

Vanessa Fraser - Two time state champ speaks for itself.

Team Of the Year:Carlmont - Bellarmine was the best team but Carlmont owns Bell at CCS and their performance at CCS was the best team run in the Nor Cal this year. Just in a tough division and hasn't figured out State.

Aptos - lose the top runner, lose another top 5, still the best.

Coach of the Year:Albert Caruana - Three section titles, two runner ups in 5 years.

Dan Gruber - Did I mention they were the top team in CCS despite losing 2 of their top 5.

Albert,1) Most improved male runner? Ryan Anderson. Not even in top 10 at JV NBL meet as a soph, NCS champ as a junior. You might have missed that one.2) Despite transfers being a reality, there is no place for an award for such. Tisk, tisk.

A few suggestions for "honorable mention" consideration from the SJS (don't know coaches names) - - Davis Sr. High coaches - both boys and girls qualify for states; Whitney (Rocklin) - both girls and boys qualify for State; Woodcreek - both girls and boys qualify (and girls did with some injuries). Just some thoughts . . .

First off, congratulations to all the student-athletes and coaches who worked their butts off this year and thanks to everyone who supported the sport and their teams.

If you haven't realized it yet, picking awards are always tough as there are often times many individuals and teams that are deserving of praise. I think the categories and the choices are fine with the exception of "Transfer of the Year" (I don't think that category was necessary).

Perhaps, one possible solution to please more folks is to do what Annoymous at 7:30pm did and to list your official/unofficial picks for section awards. The NorCal awards can stay the way they are and additional teams, individuals, and coaches from each section can be praised by you the posters on this board. People's choice awards?

I think the transfer of the year award is completely rude and uncalled for. To qualify Goltra's achievements in the context of the transfer does nothing but perpetuate the image of him as an opportunistic "free agent" and will only draw further scorn for him on these boards. Goltra is a big kid who can stand tall by his objective achievements, if he didn't win an award, he knows it's on him. To patronize him by creating a subjective category just to have him on the list somewhere (I mean, seriously, the category didn't even have a female counterpart, it's pretty clear why it was created) is entirely unnecessary and does nothing but degrade the stature of the list (and thereby the other runners' inclusion).

I had transfers of the year in 2011 and nobody said peep. Kids are allowed to legally transfer by the CIF. I can understand why everybody would be up in arms if rules were broken but this is not the case. It's been a part of high school/college/pro sports for decades. I am fairly certain that nobody is going to transfer so they can win my coveted award.

Lets be honest, we all know why people really transfer, and it all can be"legal" under CIF but the fact of the matter is they do it for sports reasons. Just because its within the so called rules still doesn't make it right. No stud runners would ever transfer to my school. I wonder why? No need for that category. How about a most improve team category.

You can now legally transfer anywhere as long as you sit out 30 days. Transfers are going to start making a HUGE difference in the next few years. Once parents and runners get the guts to transfer like Adrian did LEGALLY we could see some really great teams. If you don't think this matters look at Phillip Rocha the frosh from Arcadia, 10th at D1 Stae - he was able to shop around for schools (he also looked at Dana Hills, Trabuco Hills and Brea Olinda). Quit complaining to Albert when Transfer of the Year is a totally legit category. Thanks for another great year Albert.